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Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Lyanna, Rhaegar and Jon: Who's the Daddy?

Is Jon Snow the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen?In the Game of Thrones tv series and The Song of Ice and Fire books we are told that Jon Snow is the bastard son of Eddard Stark. However, many people believe this is just a cover-up and that Jon is in fact Lyanna and Rhaegar's son.This has become a popular thought among fan's as there are a few discrepancies in the story of him being Eddard's son. To understand why, and to help you decide if you believe Jon is or is not Eddard's son, we need to go way back before where the books and tv series pick-up.

Who's the Daddy?

First off who are Lyanna and Rhaegar, those who just follow the tv show might not be too familiar with these characters as it doesn't go into much detail about them:Lyanna Stark was sister to Eddard, Brandon and Benjen Stark. She was betrothed to Robert Baratheon who loved her very much. She died during Robert's rebellion with Eddard by her side after making him promise her something that has not yet been disclosed.Rhaegar Targaryen was the eldest son of Aerys II Targaryen (the mad King), and therefore prince of Dragonstone and Heir to the Iron Throne. He is the brother of Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen. He was married to Elia Martell and had 2 children with her. The story is, that, after winning the tourney in Harrenhal he showed his interest in Lyanna (who was at the tourney) by giving the winter rose crown to her and not to his own wife Elia. A year later Rhaegar allegedly kidnapped Lyanna for unknown reasons. This event then triggered Robert's rebellion and the event's that unfolded thereafter. During the Rebellion Rhaegar met Robert in combat at a ford during the ''Battle of the Trident" where Robert defeated and killed Rhaegar with his war hammer. Elia and their children were murdered by Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch.Eddard was with Lyanna when she died and she made Eddard promise her something before she died! As of yet it's unknown what this promise is. Many believe it was a promise to keep Jon safe because if he was known to be Rhaegar's son he would have been killed!When I first heard about this theory I thought that's a load of rubbish who came up with that but the more I think about it the more I hope it's true. Take the following points into consideration: (Note not all are strong points but must be considered at the same time)1. Eddard Stark isn't the type of man to randomly sleep with a woman that isn't his wife. He's the kind of person that is honourable in everything else so why not that? Makes more sense that he would risk his own reputation to keep a promise to his sister that he dearly loved. (So much so he buried her in the tomb beneath Winterfell that was only meant for rulers of Winterfell.) Raising his sisters child as his own to protect him from Targaryen haters seem far more like a thing Eddard Stark would do!2. Robert is the only person that speaks badly of Rhaegar Targaryen. True everyone has different opinions of people but can all of The Seven Kingdoms have it that wrong?3. The dates don't add up! I got a lot of my information from here at westeros.org. I'll just try and simplify what I found here.Basically Jon was born about 8 or 9 months before Daenerys. Daenerys was born almost exactly 9 months after Rhaegar's death and the sack of Kings Landing. Which means Jon was born within a month or so of the sack. We know the war last's close to a year and is often spoken of as a year suggesting it lasted about 10-11 months rather than 9. Considering this it would seem Jon's conception was about 1-3 months into the war.However that contradicts suggestions from Catelyn and Ned that Jon was concieved some time after Robb (Which itself took place several months into the war). So either George R.R Martin made a mistake OR he accidently clarified some information that was meant to be hidden in the story. (I agree with the people who wrote this on the site I got it from, GRRM is too precise to make a mistake like that)It's made quite clear in the book and tv series that Jon has a Stark look about him which makes it safe to say one of his parents had to be a Stark. But which one? We have to take into consideration his possible parents and where they were during the war. The most likely pairings for Jon's parents are Rhaegar and Lyanna, Eddard and Ashara Dayne, and Eddard and Wylla.Rhaegar and Lyanna works best as there is very strong evidence that Rhaegar was with Lyanna for the entire time frame of Jon Snows conception. For the first few months of the war Eddard Stark was in the Vale or up North in Winterfell which means the Ashara Dayne and Wyalla would have had to have been in one of those places at the same time as Eddard. We are unsure of their where abouts during the war but because they are taking into consideration in the book it's impossible to rule them out entirely.There is more reasons as to why Lyanna and Rhaegar could be Jon's parent's at www.westeros.org.If you are as interested in this theory as I am it is definitely worth a read. I for one am a believer in the theory. But what do you think?